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Revolution Leader Lines: What Are They and How to Use Them by Revolution Kites

Leaders, the short lines attached to the handles: what they are for, why a new Rev needs no tuning, and when to use them, in high wind, for advanced hovering or in a team.

From the series Lines, handles and care. Transcript by QuadKites.org.

Revolution Leader Lines: What Are They and How to Use Them by Revolution Kites

Key takeaways from this video

  • A new Rev with its original lines is designed to fly without tuning: a difficult first flight comes from the basics, not the kite.
  • When the top lines have stretched, a knot in the leader is a temporary fix; swapping the top and bottom lines is a better solution.
  • In high wind, let out the top leaders or take in the bottom ones: the Rev leans back and slows down.
  • At advanced level and in teams, let-out top leaders lock in the hover and keep the Revs slow and in sync.

Transcript

  1. Leader lines and stretch

    0:00

    Hi, I'm Joe Hadzicki, inventor of the Revolution kite, and today's question is: leader lines, what are they, and can they be used to adjust your Rev? What are leader lines, and what are leader line adjustments? Leader lines are the short lines attached to your handles. Here's the top leader line, here's the bottom leader line. These leader lines are used to attach your flying line set to your handles. They can also be used for adjustments. For example, after flying in high winds for several hours, you will gradually stretch your top lines. This can be corrected temporarily by adding a knot to your leader line, sliding your line set up and attaching it, which brings you back to the initial stretch point. A better solution is to take your top lines that have been stretched and put them on the bottom of the handles, and take your bottom lines that have not been stretched and put them on the top of the handles. After flying for a few more hours, your bottom lines will stretch back to nearly even with your top lines.

  2. Do you need to adjust?

    1:16

    The real question you should be asking yourself is: do I need to adjust my Rev? If you just purchased a new Revolution from the factory, complete with factory lines, the answer is no. You do not need to adjust your Rev. Your Rev is designed to fly right out of the bag, with no need to tune up or adjust. Set your shafts, run your lines.

  3. The first flight

    1:58

    Your first flight out with the Rev probably won't look like that. You're probably going to do a little bit of overcontrol. You'll correct with your hands, left and right, but it'll be too much, and then you'll do a pull and you'll crash. You end up thinking, wow, I'm a pretty good flyer, and that Rev was completely out of control, there must be something wrong. Now you want to adjust the bridle or the lines or the handles or something. Stop right there. There's nothing wrong with the Rev.

  4. Learning the basics first

    2:36

    Basically, what's going on is that you need to get the basics down. It's almost like jumping into a car when you know nothing about it and want to just drive: you don't know where the gas is, you don't know where the brake is. You've got to learn the basics. In the comments below, I've got the basic Rev video. Check it out. Do that for one day and you'll be on your way to Rev mastery without any adjustments.

  5. Adjusting for high wind

    2:57

    One of the best applications for leader line adjustment is high winds. Let your top leaders out or bring your bottom leaders in. This will cause your Rev to tilt back, which will slow your Rev down. If this is your first time out, I don't suggest flying in high wind conditions, 16, 18, 20 mile an hour winds. Use your leader line adjustment, it'll help slow your Rev down. The real solution is to lock down the most basic skills. There's also a video in the comments below about high wind flying. Check it out.

  6. Hover control at advanced levels

    3:34

    As your skills move into the advanced levels, let's say Club 38 levels 5, 6 and above, your focus might shift from flying your Rev to hovering your Rev and to slow-motion rotations. This precision control is based on that hover. If you let those top leaders out, it'll slow your Rev down and lock you into that hover point. This might be the adjustment you need to lock down your snap spin skill.

  7. Team flyers

    4:04

    All right, the Rev Fanatic award goes to team flyers. The goal of team flyers is to fly and match their teammates perfectly in sync and to hold that position very accurately. The key to this is keeping your Revs moving slowly, and the way to do that is to let those leader lines out on top. It slows the Rev down and they can follow each other more precisely. They also like to match their equipment precisely. It's not uncommon to see leader lines on team pilots' kites with multiple knots closely spaced, so they can adjust their kite very precisely relative to their team members. All right, get those basic skills down and we'll see you out on the field.

Keep going

In the series Lines, handles and care — Revolution Kites tutorials

  1. Revolution Leader Lines: What Are They and How to Use Them — you are here
  2. Short or Long Lines for Your Revolution?
  3. Short Lines: 6 Reasons You Will Like Them
  4. Long or Short Handles for Your Rev?
  5. Revolution Line Management for Your Rev Kite
  6. Revolution Line Wear and Binding: Tips from the Masters
  7. Double the Life of Your Revolution Line Set

See the 17 videos of the series

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